The Second Ranking Announcement Ceremony (4)
Producer Seok O-yeong stared at Gal Neoul’s vote count on the giant screen.
Hah...
Gal Neoul’s rank had not changed at all. But when Seok O-yeong compared his votes with those of second-place Ha On-ha, the gap had shrunk to barely three digits.
Ha On-ha had seized the Signal Song center position and, with a flood of attention for “the one who did the wink-ball-heart thing” and “Come on back, Center,” had swept up votes by an overwhelming margin.
Gal Neoul had earned benefit points, yes, but he had managed to catch up to Ha On-ha this much by breaking through ordinary trainees who could practically fly. It was unbelievable.
He’s something else.
The more Seok O-yeong looked at him, the more impressive he became. With a satisfied smile, he watched Gal Neoul, one of the key reasons the show’s ratings were holding strong.
Meanwhile, there was someone else who looked at Gal Neoul with open dislike and admired him for entirely different reasons.
Wow. What a pain in the ass.
It was Kim Ji-rok, whose left eyebrow still looked half-empty.
Kim Ji-rok admitted that he could not stand up to Baek Yuri or Ha On-ha. Baek Yuri had already debuted, and Ha On-ha had been known since his trainee days as someone with real skill. But Gal Neoul was impossible to acknowledge.
Where the hell did some bastard like that come crawling out of?
Ji-rok’s ears were too full of his own resentment to hear Gal Neoul’s singing. He focused only on Gal Neoul’s weaker dance skills, the one area where he still fell short.
If it hadn’t been for Gal Neoul, who had dragged him into rumors by linking him with Gye Tae-seok as a drug duo, he would have been in third place by now. That thought dominated his mind.
That spot was supposed to be mine. Damn it.
The ranking announcement finally ended. All that remained were the parachute card and the resurrection round, the last chance in the second class announcement ceremony.
“As announced earlier, among the participants who belonged to the bottom three teams and were all eliminated, the top two individuals in the personal vote rankings will be given a chance at the resurrection round.”
Jeong On-do called out the two participants who would compete for survival.
“Participant Kim Ji-rok! And... participant Wang Huiying!”
Kim Ji-rok, who had been 23rd before elimination, and Wang Huiying, who had been 24th, were the highest-ranked among the eliminated contestants in individual votes.
Kim Ji-rok had shown steady skill and had also won some sympathy votes from viewers upset by the sharp drop in his ranking last time. They said he had been caught in the middle and suffered for no fault of his own because of Gal Neoul and Gye Tae-seok.
On top of that, he had earned favor by leading his team well with a soft kind of charisma during the second mission.
He had been cruelly compared to the artist team when their songs overlapped, and his team had been pushed down to sixth in team votes, but his individual cam had drawn a surprisingly strong response.
Thanks to that, Kim Ji-rok’s popularity had begun to recover, landing him in 23rd place and sending him into the resurrection round for survival.
For Kim Ji-rok, who should have been cruising safely within debut range, having to fight through a resurrection round stung his pride.
As for Wang Huiying, he was the one Gal Neoul had simply shoved aside during the second team match member selection and abandoned when he ran off to another team, so that made it even more infuriating.
Why the hell do I have to go up against that bastard, Wang-hyung or whatever the hell his name is?
He had spent the entire time preparing for the second team mission barely holding back curses every time Wang Huiying’s face came into view. It had been exhausting.
He wanted nothing more than to screw Gal Neoul over somehow, but contact with other teams was forbidden, and he didn’t even know where Gal Neoul’s dorm or practice room was. So he could only keep preparing for the stage and wait for his chance.
And now he was at risk of elimination?
Damn it. Absolutely not.
If he was going to die, then that damned Gal Neoul should die with him. He was going to make me a candidate for a junkie and then debut on his own? Not a chance. I’ll survive, claw my way up, and take his place.
Kim Ji-rok gritted his teeth so hard his jaw ached. The more he thought about it, the hotter his head felt.
“Please move to the resurrection zone,” Jeong On-do instructed.
Kim Ji-rok’s gaze shifted sideways.
At the side of the stage where the thirty surviving contestants were seated, there was another small stage set up. Two lights resembling security scanners had been installed there. It almost looked like a doorway with no door, just the frame standing by itself.
When they approached it, a marked spot stood five steps behind the lights where they were supposed to stand.
Kim Ji-rok took his place on one side of the marked spot, and Wang Huiying found the remaining mark and stood there as well. The lights shining on both of them went out.
“What’s placed in front of the two participants is a security scanner. If the judges press the PASS button, the light will come on. Only the scanner in front of the participant who receives more passes will light up.”
Jeong On-do continued the explanation.
“The judges cannot give a pass to both participants, so they must choose the one who shows the better stage.”
The two lights flashed on and off in turn, then went dark again.
“Of the two participants, only one can pass through the security scanner and survive. For the resurrection round, you may choose whichever you are most confident in, whether that is dance, singing, or rap, and perform it for two minutes.”
“...”
“You may sing a song you usually enjoy or have practiced before, and freestyle dance or improvised rap is also allowed. The stage order will be decided by rock-paper-scissors. The winner goes first.”
Wang Huiying won rock-paper-scissors. He sang the title track from an album released a year ago by a senior idol group that was still actively promoting.
[It feels like dust is caught in my kidneys
My insides are so cramped, you’re so bad
I feel like I’m going mad]
Wang Huiying suddenly turned the lyric “It feels like dust is caught in my heart” into a kidney-disease lyric about having a cramp in his kidneys, showing off unexpectedly bouncy lyric-adapting skills.
“Haa... Huiying, your pronunciation is driving me crazy. What am I supposed to do about that...?”
Judge Hala voiced her regret in her commentary.
To become a Korean idol, clear Korean pronunciation was fundamental. Slurred speech might be forgiven as cute in everyday conversation, but at least while singing, shouldn’t the listener be able to understand the words?
The resurrection round had been sprung on them without any separate preparation time, so Wang Huiying, flustered, seemed to have picked a song he had not practiced enough.
So far, many foreign participants had been criticized for pronunciation, but Wang Huiying had not been the kind of contestant whose lack of diction stood out dramatically during the competition.
Kim Ji-rok laughed at the dejected Wang Huiying in his head eight times, then went on to show off the dance he was confident in. It was a routine he had already danced hundreds of times while preparing for monthly evaluations during his trainee days.
With a confident smile, Kim Ji-rok filled the two minutes.
“Good!”
Judge Miles Kim nodded. Kim Ji-rok and Wang Huiying stood side by side again, and Jeong On-do raised the microphone.
“Judges, please press the PASS button for the participant whose stage you want to see once more!”
The three judges each reached for the two buttons in front of them.
“You both worked hard. I...”
Beep—!
“I’ll pass Kim Ji-rok.”
“Pass!”
“I’ll pass Kim Ji-rok too.”
Beep! Beep! The button presses rang out one after another. Light flashed on above Kim Ji-rok’s security scanner.
It was the result he had naturally expected, but he still put on a surprised expression and said, “Thank you...” Wang Huiying, whose light had not come on, clapped with an disappointed look on his face.
Kim Ji-rok approached Wang Huiying and spread his arms wide. He wanted to act like he was sorry to be surviving while letting Wang Huiying fall.
Still, we were on the same team during the second team mission, so if I look too happy in front of someone who got eliminated, that would be weird. I should drop a few tears here and look human.
He was about to hug Wang Huiying and pretend to cry, trying to build the image that he wasn’t some weak punk but a soft-hearted one, when Wang Huiying hesitated.
“Ji-rok-kyang. We’re not even that close, are we?”
Ha. This bastard isn’t cooperating.
“I thought we were close, so that hurts to hear. Wang-hyung, you worked hard. Let’s talk later.”
“My name is Wang Huiying...”
“Right. Wang Hui-hing.”
“Not Hui-hing. It’s 王辉映.”
Damn it. How am I supposed to know whether it’s Hui-hing or Hui-hang or whatever. It’s not like I’m ever going to see him again anyway. What kind of insane bastard gives a person a name that sounds like a horse neighing? And this guy, who can’t even speak proper Korean worth a damn, is being this damn picky.
Kim Ji-rok forced down his irritation and patted Wang whatever’s shoulder.
“Fine. Anyway, good work.”
Then he passed through the security scanner and joined the ranks of the survivors. A staff member brought out one chair for the spot that had only held thirty. It was a folding chair, worse than an economy-class seat. The kind you’d see in a school auditorium.
“Participant Kim Ji-rok, you survived through the resurrection round. How do you feel?”
How do I feel? Like this sucks. Why do I have to do this crap?
“I’m so grateful for this second chance. I’ll work hard.”
I’ll work damn hard. I’ll claw my way up no matter what and crush Gal Neoul underfoot. If I can also put down that obnoxious Ha On-ha, that would be the cherry on top.
Kim Ji-rok let the words that were completely different from his thoughts pour out smoothly, then sat down in the chair. As his hips settled onto the hard, cold plastic seat, a wave of humiliation washed over him.
In the meantime, Wang Huiying kept his head bowed and returned to the group of eliminated contestants.
“Yes, good. With that, thirty-one participants survive, including resurrection-round survivor Kim Ji-rok.”
MC Jeong On-do, microphone in hand again, tossed out the kind of line a shopping host might use when handing out a bonus gift with a set product.
“But this isn’t over yet.”
“...”
“One final chance at survival still remains. That is... the parachute card!”
Jeong On-do shouted with force.
But the eliminated contestants did not exactly look hopeful or expectant. And that was because...
“Then let us reveal the participants who hold parachute cards.”
None of the eliminated contestants had a parachute card.
Six participants’ photos appeared on the screen. Five were color photos, and one was black and white, with a stamp reading “used” across it.
The person in the black-and-white photo was Gal Neoul, who had already used his parachute card on Yeo Do-bin. And the remaining five were all surviving contestants who now occupied one seat each on the plane.
The eliminated contestants could only hope that those five would feel generous.
But this was a survival stage. Not a place for building friendships, but the middle of a ruthless competition.
Every man for himself. Obviously.
Kim Ji-rok sneered inwardly at the very idea of a parachute card, a rule that let someone rescue another contestant.
Who’s going to thank you for saving them with a parachute card here?
He looked back and forth between Gal Neoul and Yeo Do-bin and clicked his tongue inwardly.
If you pull some poor bastard out of the water, they’ll just ask you to hand over your bundle too. That ghost-looking bastard will definitely act grateful to Gal Neoul on the surface while thinking he’s a pushover underneath.
Looks are science, and punks recognize punks. No matter how kind Yeo Do-bin tried to seem, no matter how much he acted like a loser, Kim Ji-rok was sure the guy would eventually show his true colors.
He was certain that if Gal Neoul and Yeo Do-bin ever faced each other or found themselves in a situation where one had to stab the other in the back, he’d smash that back without hesitation for even a second.
You don’t rescue a guy who’s fallen into the water. You laugh at him.
How stupid did someone have to be to fall into the water while walking alone? Even if you saved some hopeless fool like that, he’d probably be useless to the world anyway. Wasn’t it better just to let him die? And if someone looked like they had thrown themselves into the water on purpose just to steal your bundle, then the right answer was to throw a rock at them.
In any case, Kim Ji-rok thought that saving anyone was a foolish thing to do, and leaned back against the chair.
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